By KUNA,
London : The British Ministry of Defence (MoD) has been accused of a “gold standard cock-up” (mistake) over eight helicopters which have cost 422 million pounds but have yet to fly for the Royal Air Force.
The House of Commons Public Accounts Committee chairman Edward Leigh said Wednesday that the Chinooks had been “languishing” while troops in Afghanistan needed aircraft.
A National Audit Office report said a string of problems have seen their 259 million pounds cost soar since delivery in 2001.
The MoD said it was trying to get the Chinooks operating as soon as possible.
The helicopters, which were first ordered in 1995, are to be “reverted” to standard models to get them to the field quicker.
In the meantime, the MoD has added night-vision equipment to some of its standard Chinooks to enable them to carry out the sort of special forces missions the new models were intended for.
But the National Audit Office said the stop-gap fix has raised serious safety fears as staff say the equipment reduced pilots’ normal visibility.
Britain’s Defence Equipment Minister Baroness Taylor said that the reversion of the Chinooks to the suitable configuration was one of several steps the MoD was taking to increase helicopter numbers in Afghanistan.
She said, “The Chinook is the most capable support helicopter in Afghanistan. Based on operational need, the reversion project will allow delivery of more Chinooks to theatre in the shortest time-frame.”